Stained Metal

The screech. There it was again. Gabriel had heard it all to many times to know what was going to happen next: The scent of sulfur, the feeling of a hot wind on his face, the darkening of the sky. He felt the shiver travel through his body, and watched in terror as the Silver dragon descended and plopped down heavily on the ground.
Perfect, he thought to himself bitterly. What he heard next filled his heart with dread. Another sound, not quite like the other, and instead sounded like a large honking sound. Still the smell of sulfur was stronger now, and Gabriel stared in utter horror as the second dragon landed on the ground safely next to the other. He looked over to Eoin, who seemed to have gone pale, then to Abigail, who was clutching her knife in her hand with beads of sweat running down his face.
He felt a large lump in his throat and found it hard to swallow. His insides were twisting and turning and refused to stop no matter how much he begged them. He watched the Dragons rustle around together. One was actually preening the other with its massive snout, moving around its silver plates to clean and polish in between. Their enormous teeth were bared, but only half way making it seem more like a grin than anything.
What do you want? Gabriel asked. His head was hurting.
You know what we want one replied, though not really. It was the one that was cleaning the other. How Gabriel had known this, he could not tell.
Yes, but why can’t you leave me alone? What have I done to you? He begged inside his mind.
It is not our choice. We do what we are told. This time it was the one being cleaned to answer. His tail was flicking from side to side happily.
Gabriel felt the heat rising as he heard these words. Who would murder an innocent person at the whim of some other person who died years ago? He watched the fog disappear, somewhat, and saw the water appear in the distance.
“So what now?” Eoin asked. He was not sounding as confident as he used to. He was grabbing his wand with both hands, and his naturally untidy hair was even messier than usual.
“Well I assume we are fighting.” Abigail said. She too was now baring her weapon. The dragons had both taken this instance to take notice of them. Gabriel watched as one of the dragons reared up on its hind legs.
“Right,” Gabriel said, “Well I guess we’d better get to it then.” He started to grin at the others, even though his body was telling him to run. He took the staff in his hands and let the energy flow through him.
“I’m ready when you are.” Eoin stated. He had still not moved an inch, and shuddered when the dragon screamed, its nose pointed to the sky.
“Just go!” Abigail yelled, pushing Eoin away as the fireball came, and shooting up into the sky. The second dragon reared up on its hind and unfolded it’s wings and began to flap. It was a clumsy process but it did manage to get off the ground and follow close after her. Gabriel rolled away from the black fire and sat panting on the grass. His stomach felt like it was going to break out of his body.
“Gabriel! Get up!” Eoin yelled at him. Eoin threw out a spell that knocked the dragon onto it’s back, and Gabriel almost felt like laughing as he watched the dragons flail its legs around, struggling to get up. He got to his feet and watched as a small brown substance began to twist it’s way around his arm.
Earth. He thought to himself subconsciously. He watched the brown mix in with green, and rejoiced as it gave off the scent of freshly sewn land.
Abigail was darting rapidly through the sky, dodging balls of fire as they flew past her. One had almost singed her wings and she felt the heat. She looked back and saw the dragon trailing not to far behind her, its mouth open, ready to consume anything in its path. She marveled at how a thing so massive could stay in the air. She turned around and did a flip on the air, confusing the dragon, and causing it to stop in the air. It looked around for her for a moment before finding her.
Abigail unsheathed her dagger and muttered something under her breath. She brought out the small orb in her pack that her father had packed and watched the colors swirling inside. She hesitated and then broke the orb across the dagger and watched the colors seep into the steel. The dagger began to glow ferociously, and then became incredibly hot. Soon it was freezing, and Abigail could barely hold it anymore. The dragon opened its mouth and she saw the fire forming at the back of its throat, and The embers on the dragons tongue.
She watched her blade as it began to change colors, from red, to blue, to silver, and then to brown. She smiled lightly and shot forward. The dragon, surprised, stumbled in the air backwards
“Eoin!” Gabriel shouted.
“What is it?” the wizard asked shakily.
“I need some help.”
“Say no more. I have just the thing.” He said grinning. He brought out his wand and began to mutter some words. Gabriel found that he was suddenly holding a great sword in his hand.
“This is all you have for me?” Gabriel asked skeptically, trying to raise the sword, but finding it difficult.
“That’s not all!” the wizard replied, smirking. Gabriel soon saw that Eoin was telling the truth. The blade was sparking, and was soon wreathed in electric currents, sweeping their way around the sword, illuminating everything as they passed by.
“Thanks!” He screamed, jumping out of the way of another fireball. Gabriel saw the earth still winding its way around his arm and willed it to move to the sword, and surprisingly it did. He watched the two, lighting and earth, wrapping around each other, awaiting orders. And then, something he did not expect happened.
The dragon had become bigger. Or not so much bigger, but only seemed bigger. The air around It was shimmering and the light coming from it was making it hard to see. It had stopped screeching and was now standing completely still.
“Eoin! What is it doing?” he cried in confusion
“You don’t want to know!” he tried to say, but it was to late. A wall of late was rushing towards them, emitted from the dragons body, and Gabriel could only gaze in amazement as the open field around him was gone, and all that was left was an empty void.
Abigail rushed towards the stunned dragon with her dagger bared, and laughed as the dagger pierced its armor and dug through to the tender meat underneath. She tried to cover her ears as the scream of pain came. It was overwhelming at firsdt and she nearly dropped out of the sky, but she held firm and waited. The dragon began to fly towards to earth. She took out her dagger and flew down with it, cutting it and stabbing it as it made its descent. She saw the ground getting closer and realized that soon she would hit if she didn’t stop. She rushed up to the dragon’s neck and buried the blade deep within it’s throat. It tried to scream again, but instead it gurgled, choking on the blood that was making its way everywhere, sizzling and smoking and burning holes in Abigail’s clothes. She left the dagger there and stopped in mid-air as the dragon continued forward. She shuddered as the dragon hit the ground and heard the deafening crack of the dragon’s neck. She inched forward closer, her wings buzzing insanely. She looked at the lifeless mass on the ground, and saw the blood spreading from the body, burning the grass and staining the stones as it went.
She looked around the valley and saw nothing else. No sign of the other dragon, or even that of Gabriel and Eoin.

It was dark in this place. That was all Gabriel knew, that was all Gabriel wanted to know. It seemed as if the sun had gone out, and in its place was just a deep and saddening nothing.
“Gabriel are you there?” the voice came form the dark, and Gabriel couldn’t see his face.
“Yeah, I’m here. Where are we?” He asked, couldn’t tell if he was standing or sitting.
“I don’t really know, all I know is that we are somewhere else than where we were before, and quite possibly somewhere where we don’t want to be.”
“Thank you, that helped me a lot.” He replied sarcastically.
Are you done yet? The voice was cold, and clear and cut through his mind like a knife.
“What’s the matter?” Eoin asked him.
“It’s here.”
Are you really surprised? The voice sounded amused, It was, after all I who brought you here.
Why? Gabriel asked it fiercely.
Simply to take back what has been gone for too long. It sneered at him.
Why couldn’t you do it back where we were. Why are we here now? He demanded.
Because of the pesky girl and her infuriating inconveniences. The wizard was a problem as well, I did not mean to bring him with us. Gabriel felt the floor vibrate a little, and knew that the dragon was not to far away.
Well I guess you aren’t as great as Eoin said you were. You can’t even defeat us when there are two of you. He knew it was a mistake as soon as he said it. The air went chill, and the dragon did not say anything for several minutes.
“Gabriel?” Eoin asked, “What is it saying?”
“It said that we are here for a reason. He only wanted to fight me, and you and Abigail are a nuisance. Bringing you here was an accident and all.” Gabriel felt his hand shaking and also heard the a metallic sound being presented. He looked down and saw the he still had the sword.
“Well that’s nice then. Thank you dragon!” Eoin began to yell.
“Shut up!” Gabriel said to him.
“No, I don’t think I will,” he continued, “I have been bossed around by a twelve year old for far too long now. I think it’s time I did something on my own.” He started to yell once more into the dark, most of what he yelled though Gabriel saw as uncalled for.
Now to get rid of another nuisance, the voice was back.
What do you mean? Gabriel began to ask but he didn’t have to. He looked to the spot where Eoin’s voice was coming from and saw a faint glow in the background, obvious when set against the black.
“Eoin watch out!” Gabriel screamed.
“For what?” Eoin broke off from yelling for a moment and turned to see what Gabriel meant, but it was too late. Gabriel saw the fire rushing towards Eoin before he could, and gaped as he saw the flames suck in the wizard’s body. The wizard’s face was contorted with pain, and agony as the flames took him in.
He was gone. He couldn’t believe it. Eoin was gone. It wasn’t enough that the dragons had taken his mother, but now one of the only people who had stayed with him through the entire journey. He couldn’t move, surprise had paralyzed his body, and he couldn’t even feel the tears as they streamed from his face. It was dark again, though Gabriel could still the fireball flying further away into the distance.
How could you? Gabriel asked the voice. There was nothing in his mind now; nothing but rage, infuriation, and sorrow. He looked at the spot where Eoin stood, and tried to call out to him with his mind, only to get no response.
It was necessary. The voice told him. Another light was shining over from the darkness. A ball of fire wreathed in black. This time Gabriel saw the source. The dragon’s head was mammoth and strong, but it reeked of intellect. Its teethe were dripping with saliva, and sizzled as they came in contact with the flames. Gabriel grabbed his sword and let all of his energy flow through. The pain and emotion poured into the sword and this time he was not surprised as it glowed a faint orange color. Then something happened that he did not expect, instead of the lighting he had called, four streams poured out of his arms. Each one possessed its own color, one was blue, and another red, both of them enveloped in brown, and all of them were wavering in a clear colored stream.
The colors twisted about the sword in an enraged fury. The fireball left the dragons mouth in an instant and illuminated the place for the first time. The world he was in was strange, and mush unlike his own. Trees grew here, but all were upside down and hanging off of large chunks of land floating in the sky. Vines crept this way and that, covering most of the world in a dull green. Gabriel saw a plant that looked suspiciously like a light bulb, and thought that maybe this is where this world received its light. Gabriel charged towards the dragon, this time there was no fear in his charge only a mission. The black flames were still hurling towards him, burning all of the vines that met it. Gabriel let out a scream of triumph as the black flames were only feet from his face, and slashed at the ball with all he of the strength he could muster.
The elements met with the black flames with an incredible reaction. Popping and sizzling sounded the room, and sparks flew everywhere. Gabriel gritted his teeth as he felt the ball pushing him back, and the heat licking his face. He pushed the sword with everything he had and groaned as he felt the ball move away. He sensed his opportunity and used the rest of his energy to fling the ball of flames back towards the dragon. He saw the look of surprise on the dragons face, as the fire came hurtling back towards it, and rushed at it again, he smelled the dragons breath from a distance, and just as the flames collided with the dragons stomach, he plunged his sword deep into it’s belly. The dragon screamed, though this time it was not a scream of victory, but one of pain as the black flames enveloped his body, and then was surrounded by a sea of color. Gabriel felt the blood drip down the sword, and waited for the pain of the burning blood, but it never came. The dragon began to heave and sigh, its charred stomach was split open, and its insides were falling to the floor with a sickening squishing noise.
Then without a moments notice, it fell to the ground, and with a last flicker of flames from its nose, it was dead.